Progressive Rock, by its very name, needs to always be evolving and
redefining itself. Dream Theater's bassist John Myung is definitely doing
his part to make that so. On their new album Falling Into Infinity John
pushes his personal envelope by recording tracks with his new Yamaha
basses, a Chapman Stick, and even by playing a fretless bass. Reading our
interview with him will help you keep up with this bassist-on-the-move.

John Myung is surprisingly humble when discussing his accomplishments on
bass in his well-respected band of twelve years Dream Theater. He speaks of
music in all-encompassing terms: writing on bass, as well as guitar and
keyboards-turning 'ideas' into epic songs. On Dream Theater's latest album
Falling Into Infinity, Myung's deep fretless work and progressive patterns
helps to give Dream Theater's catalog of songs a great variety of musical
'personalities'. Three-fifths of the Long Island, NY band-Myung, guitarist
John Petrucci and drummer Mike Portnoy-attended Berklee in 1985 (later
enlisting Canadian singer James LaBrie and keyboardist, Derek Sherinian)
and then went on to garner worldwide appeal with their thought-provoking
lyrics and upscale chops. Approaching a new millennium, the band elaborates
on the premise of 'Carpe Diem' (Seize the Day) from 1995's A Change Of
Seasons; bringing their musical message into a new age. The soft-spoken,
6-string bassist makes no bones about his views on music education and
offers some insight into the world of Dream Theater.

BF: Tell me a little about your musical background?

John Myung: I've had a lot of experience with Classical music. I studied
violin for roughly ten years and then I switched over to electric bass,
4-string, which I played for about another ten years. Then I made the
switch to 6-string bass, which I'm now playing exclusively.

BF: You've been known to Play Tung basses in the past. Are you still
playing them?

JM: No. About a year ago I switched over to Yamaha basses. I felt the need
to be connected with a bigger company because I found it hard to do the
things I wanted to do with a smaller company. And Yamaha's treated me
really good. I really appreciate the relationship that we have, so I'm very
happy with it.

BF: Which model Yamaha bass did you play on Falling Into Infinity?

JM: I have a couple of TRBs and right now I'm in the process of designing a
custom bass with them, based off their RBX bass line. They sent me a
6-string prototype for the RBX line. I'm working on developing something
with them so, hopefully, it will be out soon. I wound up using the TRB for
certain songs and then the RBX for certain songs. I had the TRB when I went
into the studio and then after we had tracked a few songs they had sent me
out the RBX prototype. It felt a lot better to me. So I wound up using that
for the whole record.

BF: Why did you make the transition to playing 6-string?

JM: I just felt I needed more to work with. I need the lower strings to
compete with synth sounds and I wanted to have more to work with. I felt
that four strings were a little limiting because in the band there's a lot
of guitar driven stuff, so having the extra strings makes it easier for me
to compete with what's going on there.

BF: How did you arrive at the music you're playing in Dream Theater? What
made you want to play this type of music?

JM: (Pause) Good question. It's just something that we've stumbled upon.
It's a combination of our personalities and what we like musically-making a
cohesive sound with all the different elements. And it's always changing
because we're growing and our tastes are changing. We listen to more Pop
stuff now than we used to, so those influences are coming in. Just a
combination of growing and us sticking together as a band.

BF: I have your first album ... on vinyl.

JM: (laughs) Oh, that's horrendous! I can't listen to that record. Well,
that's the difference between 1986 and 1997.

BF: Who are some of your favorite bass players?

JM: I love so many different players! The list goes on and on: Billy
Sheehan, Marcus Miller, James Jamerson, T.M. Stevens. There's so many
players to investigate and learn from that it's hard to find time to follow
through with the whole list. But when I have spare time I like to learn
more about other players. Kind of see what they're doing and find out which
ones I really connect with musically.

BF: You attended Berklee right after high school. Do you think a formal
education in music is essential?

JM: Oh, absolutely. Training, practice and learning is required of any job
or position that you're trying to hold. A lot of people are born with
exceptional talents, exceptional strength and stamina, but in the arts
everything is pretty much acquired. You have to work and develop skills, so
it's definitely important to get your education wherever you can find it.

BF: I noticed you played a Chapman Stick on the new record? Why did you
want to explore that area?

JM: Well, pretty much everything that I've recorded with the band has
always been behind the bass. I felt the need to do something different,
which is why I started learning and studying Stick. I wanted to bring that
sound into the band and I think it really added a lot to the song 'New
Millennium' on our new CD. You can hear different types of songs; songs
that have different personalities from the instrumentation.

BF: One song has a somewhat Latin feel to it. Tell me about your bass
playing on that song ?

JM: Right. That song is called 'Hollow Years'. That was a track that I
played fretless on-which I don't do a whole lot, but Kevin Shirley, the
producer, really inspired me to take the fretless out and play. And I was
really happy with what he got out of me because if it wasn't for him I
wouldn't have done it. But now I'm glad I did.

BF: I think sometimes we all need a little push. Do you feel that way?

JM: Absolutely. Yeah. That's one of the great things about the band, too.
We're friends but we also have a sense of competition where we help each
other improve and push each other to try different things; which is cool.

BF: In the past you've written songs with longer arrangements that tend to
be progressive in nature. Do you enjoy playing those songs more than the
others?

JM: Well, I think you need variety. I love playing every song. I mean, I
shouldn't say that! (Laughs) In the past we've always been traditionally
known for our longer type arrangements, but, I think with this record we're
trying to strike a better balance between self-indulgence and powerful
songwriting. They are two different types of songs with two different
personalities that are both valid and have a purpose. The more
song-oriented stuff gives the band opportunity to get played on radio,
which is really important because kids buy what they know. If they don't
hear you then they don't know about you. It is important that you are able
to feel really good about what you do and be honest with yourself knowing
that it's definitely the type of music you want to be playing. There's a
whole other type of satisfaction that comes from that because when you're
playing, people can see your conviction. When you can reach people on that
level, I think they will talk about you and will spread it that way through
word-of-mouth.

BF: A lot of musicians are into you guys. Do you ever look out in the
audience and see all the musicians looking on to see what you're doing
next? Do you notice that?

JM: I definitely notice it. But when I'm playing it doesn't enter my head
space. I'm just more like thinking about my parts and what I'm doing.

BF: You've been playing with your drummer Mike for such a long time now.
How would you describe that relationship? While performing are you
conscious of the other instruments you are playing in synch with?

JM: In the band, in a way, we're all drummers. We're all filling in
certain, rhythmic holes. It just happens to be that the bass provides a
very supportive type of rhythm. It's like the glue of a song. I think it's
the thing that if you don't understand what's going on with the
complexities of the instrument, it's the one instrument that can take you
through the song, hopefully. (Ponders) But my relationship with Mike ...
it's a good relationship. I love Mike, and I think it's a real rewarding
relationship. I think he definitely inspires me to always improve and to
get better, and that's important to have.

BF: What do you practice when not playing Dream Theater songs?

JM: I practice whatever my hands feel like doing that day. I practice
scales a lot. Then if I get scale-heavy I'm like 'I don't want to do this
anymore, let's do something else', so I'll concentrate on chord tones and
practice different shapes that I know and then try to discover a few more
shapes that I'm not naturally able to play and build those up. Sometimes I
just play along to tapes and when I get tired of that I record some ideas.

BF: How do you approach a day of practice?

JM: I try not to set expectations so that when I sit behind the instrument
I try to lose myself and not think of it so much as a win/lose situation.
'Is it going to be a great day? Or is it going to be a bad day?' It's just
going to be a day of practice and whatever happens will happen. I don't
mean to be too carefree, but sometimes when you expect too much from
yourself you choke and you don't really wind up accomplishing anything. If
you expect everyday to be a great day behind your instrument, you're
setting yourself up for a lot of disappointment. I used to psyche myself
out a lot that way. When I just accepted it as a part of my life-something
that I do-it's a whole different world. Then you don't feel pressured and
that's when things start coming to you.

BF: A lot of the songs on this new album seem to deal with some hard
topics. You composed a song called 'Trial Of Tears'. That one really made
me think and want to analyze it. Can you tell me more about that song?

JM: That was the first song that I did a sketch for where I played guitar
and keyboards and bass on it, and I presented it to the band. It was a song
that went through many different stages. The first demo that I made was a
really raw version of that and then we worked on it as a band and took it
to another level. It turned out to be this incredible song that went from
the version that I did to something that incorporated the band, which is a
really great thing because you can still have independence and choose a
direction, but then be able to synergize what that song is with your
bandmates and be interdependent with them. That's when the magic happens.
That's when the song really starts to transform and take on a strong
personality.

Lyrically, that was a real therapeutic song for me. It deals with ego and
my perception of it and understanding how it can cage you and really alter
your perspective, but then realizing that life is really short so you need
to make a decision. You also need to learn how to deal with regret while
still moving forward. There's one line that talks about, 'you're not much
better than the man you hate.' That's pretty much a play off one of the
commandments 'Love thy enemy'. You know, 'Open up, you're not the only
person here.' Also, my view of heaven being here today and not some distant
galaxy, but based upon how centered and conscious you are will affect your
experience and your perception. Understanding that is a really hard thing
to do. It's just a whole bunch of different things that I was going
through, just put into a song.

BF: The great thing is everyone will walk away with something unique from
that song and make a connection to it.

JM: Which is cool. I appreciate that when people can connect with it
personally. I think that's a big part of why you're into a certain artist.
I'm a big Sting fan. I love all his stuff and even though I've never met
him personally, I still always find myself putting on his CD's because I
feel that there's a personal connection there. I really relate to what he
does musically. That's a really important part, I think, of being
successful is to have those types of relationships with people that hear
your music. Hopefully, if you have it all together you are reaching people
that way.

BF: Is it hard being in a band sometimes? Is everything a group decision?

JM: It's weird. In a band certain things default to certain people. It's
not like you always have to decide as a group on every little point. At
some point whoever feels really passionate or strong about a situation or
about something that we're dealing with, there's always usually one person
that kind of oversees something. Sort of like the producer of something.
It's a strange animal being in a band, you know. It's kind of funny.

BF: Is it like being part of a family?

JM: It's very much like a family. You're like brothers and if you see too
much of each other, sometimes there might be a few squabbles. But, I mean
it's all in good fun, though. We appreciate who we are and what we've
accomplished with each other and we don't want it to stop. We want it to
keep developing.